雅思阅读材料中英对照版
Academic Reading Sample Task – Matching Headings
雅思学术阅读 – 匹配标题 (Matching Headings)
[Note: This is an extract from a Part 2 text about the physics of traffic behaviour.]
[注：这是有关交通行为物理学 (the physics of traffic behaviour) 第二部分文本的摘录。]
© 2000 The Atlantic Media Co., as first published in The Atlantic Magazine. All rights reserved.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
© 2000 The Atlantic Media Co.，首次刊登于 The Atlantic Magazine。保留所有权利。
由 Tribune Content Agency 发行。
Questions 1 – 4
问题 1-4
Reading Passage 1 has five sections, A-E.
阅读文章 1 有 A-E 五个部分。
Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
从下面的标题列表中为每个部分选择正确的标题。
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
在答题纸上的 1-4 框中写下正确的数字 i-viii。
List of Headings
标题列表
i Dramatic effects can result from small changes in traffic just as in nature (就像自然界一样，交通的微小变化也会产生巨大的影响)
ii How a maths experiment actually reduced traffic congestion (数学实验如何真正减少交通拥堵)
iii How a concept from one field of study was applied in another (一个研究领域的概念如何应用于另一个研究领域)
iv A lack of investment in driver training (驾驶员培训投入不足)
v Areas of doubt and disagreement between experts (专家之间存在疑问和分歧的领域)
vi How different countries have dealt with traffic congestion (不同国家如何应对交通拥堵)
vii The impact of driver behaviour on traffic speed (驾驶员行为对交通速度的影响)
viii A proposal to take control away from the driver (一项将控制权从司机手中夺走的提议)
1 Section A
Example： Section B i
2 Section C
3 Section D
4 Section E
(答案在文末)
The Physics of Traffic Behavior
交通行为物理学
A. Some years ago, when several theoretical physicists, principally Dirk Helbing and Boris Kerner of Stuttgart, Germany, began publishing papers on traffic flow in publications normally read by trafficengineers, they were clearly working outside their usual sphere of investigation. They had noticedthat if they simulated the movement of vehicles on a highway, using the equations that describehow the molecules of a gas move, some very strange results emerged. Of course, vehicles do notbehave exactly like gas molecules: for example, drivers try to avoid collisions by slowing down whenthey get too near another vehicle, whereas gas molecules have no such concern. However, thephysicists modified the equations to take the differences into account and the overall description oftraffic as a flowing gas has proved to be a very good one; the moving-gas model of trafficreproduces many phenomena seen in real-world traffic.The strangest thing that came out of these equations, however, was the implication that congestioncan arise completely spontaneously; no external causes are necessary. Vehicles can be flowingfreely along, at a density still well below what the road can handle, and then suddenly gel into aslow-moving ooze. Under the right conditions a brief and local fluctuation in the speed or thedistance between vehicles is all it takes to trigger a system-wide breakdown that persists for hours.In fact, the physicists’ analysis suggested such spontaneous breakdowns in traffic flow probablyoccur quite frequently on highways.
几年前，几位理论物理学家 (theoretical physicists)，主要是德国斯图加特的 Dirk Helbing 和 Boris Kerner，开始在交通工程师 （traffic engineers) 通常阅读的出版物上发表有关交通流 (traffic low) 的论文，显然他们的研究超出了他们通常的研究范围 (usual sphere of investigation)。他们注意到，如果他们使用描述气体分子运动的方程来模拟高速公路上车辆的运动，就会出现一些非常奇怪的结果。当然，车辆的行为并不完全像气体分子 (gas molecules)：例如，当司机离另一辆车太近时，他们会试图减速以避免碰撞 (avoid collisions)，而气体分子 (gas molecules) 则没有这种顾虑。然而，物理学家 (physicists) 修改了方程以考虑到这些差异，并且将交通描述为流动的气体 (a flowing gas) 已被证明是一个非常好的描述；移动气体交通模型 (the moving-gas model) 再现了现实世界交通中看到的许多现象。然而，这些方程得出的最奇怪的结论是，拥堵可以完全自发地发生 (congestion can arise completely spontaneously)；不需要外部原因 (no external causes are necessary)。车辆可以自由流动，密度仍远低于道路所能承受的范围，然后突然凝结成缓慢移动的软泥 (then suddenly gel into a slow-moving ooze)。在适当的条件下 (Under the right conditions)，车速或车距的短暂局部波动就足以引发持续数小时的系统性故障 (a system-wide breakdown)。事实上，物理学家的分析表明，这种交通流量的自发中断 (spontaneous breakdowns) 可能在高速公路上经常发生。
B.Though a decidedly unsettling discovery, this showed striking similarities to the phenomenapopularized as ‘chaos theory’. This theory has arisen from the understanding that in any complexinteracting system which is made of many parts, each part affects the others. Consequently, tinyvariations in one part of a complex system can grow in huge but unpredictable ways. This type ofdramatic change from one state to another is similar to what happens when a chemicalsubstancechanges from a vapor to a liquid. It often happens that water in a cloud remains as agas even afterits temperature and density have reached the point where it could condense into water droplets.However, if the vapor encounters a solid surface, even something as small as aspeck of dust,condensation can take place and the transition from vapor to liquid finally occurs. Helbing andKerner see traffic as a complex interacting system. They found that a small fluctuation in trafficdensity can act as the ‘speck of dust’ causing a sudden change from freely moving traffic tosynchronized traffic, when vehicles in all lanes abruptly slow down and start moving at the samespeed, making passing impossible.
尽管这一发现令人不安，但它与广为流传的“混沌理论 (chaos theory)”现象有着惊人的相似之处 (striking similarities)。混沌理论源于这样的理解：任何由许多部分组成的复杂相互作用系统，每个部分都会影响其他部分。因此 (Consequently)，复杂系统某一部分的微小变化 (tiny variations) 可能会以巨大但不可预测的方式增长。这种从一种状态到另一种状态的剧烈变化类似于化学物质 (a chemical substance) 从蒸汽变为液体 (changes from a vapor to liquid) 时的情况。云中的水通常保持气态，即使其温度 (temperature) 和密度 (density) 已经达到可以凝结成水滴 (condense into water droplets) 的程度。但是，如果蒸汽 (vapor) 遇到固体表面 (solid surface)，即使是像灰尘一样小的东西，也会发生凝结 (condensation)，最终从蒸汽 (vapor) 变为液体 (liquid)。赫尔宾 (Helbing) 和克纳 (Kerner) 将交通视为一个复杂的相互作用系统 (a complex interacting system)。他们发现，交通密度的微小波动 (a small fluctuation) 就会像“一粒尘埃 (speck of dust)” 一样，导致自由行驶的交通 (freely moving traffic) 突然变为同步交通 (synchronized traffic)，所有车道上的车辆都会突然减速并开始以相同的速度行驶，使超车变得不可能。
C.The physicists have challenged proposals to set a maximum capacity for vehicles on highways. They argue that it may not be enough simply to limit the rate at which vehicles are allowed to enter a highway, rather, it may be necessary to time each vehicle’s entry onto a highway precisely to coincide with a temporary drop in the density of vehicles along the road. The aim of doing this would be to smooth out any possible fluctuations in the road conditions that can trigger a change in traffic behavior and result in congestion. They further suggest that preventing breakdowns in the flow of traffic could ultimately require implementing the radical idea that has been suggested from time to time: directly regulating the speed and spacing of individual cars along a highway with central computers and sensors that communicate with each car’s engine and brake controls.
物理学家们 (The physicists) 对设定高速公路车辆最大容量的提议提出了质疑。他们认为，仅仅限制车辆进入高速公路的速度 (rate) 可能还不够，相反，可能有必要精确地安排每辆车进入高速公路的时间，以配合道路上车辆密度的暂时下降。这样做的目的是消除任何可能引发交通行为变化并导致交通拥堵的道路状况波动。他们进一步指出 (They further suggest that)，防止交通中断可能最终需要实施不时提出的激进想法：通过中央计算机 (central computers) 和传感器 (sensors) 与每辆车的发动机和刹车控制装置进行通信，直接调节高速公路上每辆车的速度和间距 (directly regulating the speed and spacing of individual cars)。
D.However, research into traffic control is generally centered in civil engineering departments and here the theories of the physicists have been greeted with some skepticism. Civil engineers favor a practical approach to problems and believe traffic congestion is the result of poor road construction (two lanes becoming one lane or dangerous curves), which constricts the flow of traffic. Engineers questioned how well the physicists’ theoretical results relate to traffic in the real world. Indeed, some engineering researchers questioned whether elaborate chaos-theory interpretations are needed at all, since at least some of the traffic phenomena the physicists’ theories predicted seemed to be similar to observations that had been appearing in traffic engineering literature under other names for years; observations which had straightforward cause-and-effect explanations.
然而，交通控制研究 (research into traffic control) 通常集中在土木工程部门 (civil engineering departments)，物理学家的理论在这里受到了一些质疑 (skepticism)。土木工程师 (civil engineers) 倾向于用实用的方法解决问题，他们认为交通拥堵 (traffic congestion) 是由于道路建设不良 (poor road construction)（双车道变成单车道或危险弯道）导致交通流量受限。工程师们 (Engineers) 质疑物理学家的理论结果与现实世界的交通有多大关系。事实上，一些工程研究人员质疑是否需要复杂的混沌理论解释，因为物理学家的理论预测的交通现象至少有一些似乎与多年来以其他名称出现在交通工程文献中的观察结果相似；这些观察结果有直接的因果解释 (cause-and-effect explanations)。
E.James Banks, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at San Diego State University in the US, suggested that a sudden slowdown in traffic may have less to do with chaos theory than with driver psychology. As traffic gets heavier and the passing lane gets more crowded, aggressive drivers move to other lanes to try to pass, which also tends to even out the speed between lanes.He also felt that another leveling force is that when a driver in a fast lane brakes a little to maintain a safe distance between vehicles, the shock wave travels back much more rapidly than it would in the other slower lanes, because each following driver has to react more quickly. Consequently, as a road becomes congested, the faster moving traffic is the first to slow down.
美国圣地亚哥州立大学 (San Diego State University) 土木与环境工程 (civil and environmental engineering) 教授詹姆斯·班克斯 (James Banks) 认为，交通突然减速可能与混沌理论 (chaos theory) 关系不大，而与驾驶员心理 (driver psychology) 有关。随着交通越来越拥堵，超车道越来越拥挤，激进的驾驶员会转向其他车道试图超车，这也往往会平衡车道之间的速度。他还认为，另一种平衡力量 (leveling force) 是，当快车道上的驾驶员稍微刹车以保持车辆之间的安全距离时，冲击波会比其他慢车道上的冲击波传播得更快，因为每个跟在后面的驾驶员都必须更快地做出反应。因此 (Consequently)，当道路变得拥挤时，行驶速度更快的车辆会首先减速。
阅读材料分析
这篇文章探讨了交通行为的物理学原理，特别是如何将物理学理论应用于解释和控制交通流量。以下是对文章的分析：
A. 引言与理论物理学家的贡献
理论物理学家Dirk Helbing和Boris Kerner将气体分子运动的方程应用于模拟高速公路上车辆的运动。
他们发现，尽管车辆行为与气体分子有所不同，但修改后的方程能够很好地描述交通流。
一个重要的发现是，交通拥堵可以自发产生，不需要外部原因。
B. 混沌理论与交通
交通被视为一个复杂的相互作用系统，与混沌理论中的现象有相似之处。
微小的变化可以在系统中以不可预测的方式放大，导致从自由流动到同步流动的突然转变。
C. 交通控制的新观点
物理学家挑战了传统的交通容量限制观点，提出可能需要更精确地控制车辆进入高速公路的时间。
他们建议使用中央计算机和传感器直接调节车辆的速度和间距，以防止交通流的中断。
D. 工程学界的怀疑
交通控制研究通常集中在土木工程部门，工程师们对物理学家的理论持怀疑态度。
工程师们倾向于从实际问题出发，认为交通拥堵是由道路建设问题引起的。
他们质疑物理学家的理论与现实世界的交通情况有多大的相关性。
E. 驾驶员心理学的影响
James Banks教授提出，交通的突然减速可能与驾驶员心理有关，而不仅仅是混沌理论。
随着交通密度的增加，积极驾驶者会尝试在其他车道超车，这有助于车道间速度的均衡。
他还指出，当快车道的驾驶员为了保持安全距离而稍微减速时，这种减速效应会比其他车道更快地传播。
总体分析
文章展示了物理学与交通工程学在交通控制问题上的不同视角。
物理学家倾向于从理论模型出发，而工程师更注重实际应用和直接的因果关系。
交通行为的复杂性意味着可能需要跨学科的方法来有效管理和控制交通流。
雅思阅读考试中的应用
理解文章中的关键概念和术语，如混沌理论、交通流模型等。
分析不同学科视角之间的差异和联系。
从文章中提取信息，回答关于理论、观点、方法和结果的问题。
答案
1 iii How a concept from one field of study was applied in another (一个研究领域的概念如何应用于另一个研究领域)
2 viii A proposal to take control away from the driver (一项将控制权从司机手中夺走的提议)
3 v Areas of doubt and disagreement between experts (专家之间存在疑问和分歧的领域)
4 vii The impact of driver behavior on traffic speed (驾驶员行为对交通速度的影响)
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